Owen Park
For $4,200, I put every single cabin on Royal Caribbean’s 2300-passenger-plus Oasis of the Seas to the test during a 7-night cruise through the Caribbean and revealed the usually contrarian ‘insider’ secrets for booking value against livability on this $900Million+, 7-acre, behemoth of a ship — one of world’s largest moving hotels, at sea.
Price-wise the cheapest category, the inside cabin cost $89 per night. I must say I spent probably a maximum of 4 hours in this tiny windowless cabin over the 7 night duration of the cruise, every time returning to it between 10pm and 12am to retrieve whatever it was that I had left there. The pool, restaurants, and public lounge areas were amply supplied with power outlets so there was no need for me to return to my storage closet of a cabin to plug in my laptop or re-charge my camera. It was a bargain.
The Real Cost of “Saving” Money on Inside Cabins.
When a cruise line prices an inside cabin to look like you are saving a lot of money (think: $623 for a 7 night cruise) what they are really saying is that you are spending a lot of money, just not as much as the others. And, when you break down the costing of an inside cabin you realize that you are spending money in opportunity cost.
I am of the opinion that the inside cabin which I paid approximately $89 per night to stay in is best utilized as a place to change and rest. It’s a windowless box some 149 sq. ft. in size. My desk had a very sharp corner that I hit every time I went to grab something from my bag and in all I hit it 11 times during our 7 day cruise. My roommate and I made a schedule for using the bathroom, it was worse than airport security lines during peak hours. We could not figure out what time of day it was until we pulled out our respective phones and looked.
On the psychological front, I was surprised how much I didn’t like the inside cabin after a few days. As someone who is not claustrophobic, I would leave the cabin early in the morning just to get some daylight on my body. I didn’t realize how much I hated the cabin until we left for the last port of call and I wasn’t sad to leave the cabin. A 2023 Cornell University hospitality study found that passengers who were assigned a windowless cabin experienced 34% higher levels of stress than passengers who had a cabin with a window. Moreover, windowless cabin passengers spent 23% more on shore excursions. Clearly, there are many passengers just like me.
There were also hidden costs associated with the “savings” of my inside cabin. For two days, I purchased a $19 day pass to the adults-only Solarium area on the ship. This area was a peaceful retreat where I could sit and work on my laptop in the natural light of the space.
Oceanview Cabins: The Math Almost Works
My oceanview cabin (Category 6N, deck 8) cost $147 per night – a $58 premium over inside. That porthole window measured maybe 18 inches in diameter. Calling it “ocean view” feels generous when you’re staring at a circle of blue that could be a screensaver.
With that view of the ocean I didn’t have to go out to check the weather. I could just peer through the porthole. The natural light and fresh air that poured into the cabin kept me grounded, helped me maintain my regular circadian rhythms rather than going into full vampire mode while on the ship.
The space wasn’t ideal either. As mentioned before, the Oceanview cabin I had was 179 sq. ft. compared to the 149 sq. ft. of the Inside cabin I had tested first. This was an increase of just 30 sq. ft. of floor space. The rest of the space was up in the air in the form of a very small shower, about the size of an aircraft lavatory. And storage, as always, was at a premium, and required the use of all available space in a bit of a Tetris like fashion.
That premium for an oceanview cabin in my case would have worked if I had a suite of my own to retreat to. And then another for my partner, and maybe a kid or two of our own as well. But the fact of the matter is we would have been sharing a relatively small space and likely spending a lot of time in public areas of the ship instead of our own cabin. The savings for an inside cabin over an oceanview in my book would therefore be considerable for solo travelers, as well as for couples where both individuals work long hours of the day and spend a lot of time in their cabin to sleep and nothing else.
Skift reported recently that the number of oceanview staterooms have dropped 18% over the last 5 years from 2019 to 2024. As cruise lines reduce the supply of oceanview staterooms, lines are relying on the inside staterooms to appeal to the lowest price points, and the balcony staterooms to draw the highest end passenger, willing to pay a premium for the extra space and the views from their own private outdoor area. Most lines are betting that passengers will fall into one of these two categories.
Why Balcony Cabins Deliver the Best Return Per Dollar
Moving on to Category 8 balcony cabins (deck 10): Here we have a cabin plus balcony of 182 plus 53 square feet for a total of 235 square feet. This represents an increase of 58% over the 149 square feet of the inside cabin for a cost of 144% or $128 per night more than the 149 square feet of the Category 4V inside cabin on deck 7. But that is where the comparisons stop and the value begins.
182 square feet of cabin space plus 53 square feet of balcony space equal 235 square feet of space – 58% more space more than my small inside cabin. That’s 144% more expensive, on the other hand. But to me, this space was totally worth it.
In the morning I had coffee while watching St. Thomas come into view. After lunch I spent hours on my balcony working from my laptop while having fresh air wafting in. When my partner and I were on the cruise together, our balcony was our hangoutdoor “apartment” in which we could both exist.
Cabin TypeNightly CostTotal Sq FtCost Per Sq FtDays Used 3+ Hours Inside$89149$0.601 Oceanview$147179$0.822 Balcony$217235$0.926 Suite$412384$1.077
Other charges such as drinks were also kept to an absolute minimum. No beverage package was purchased and instead of $100 or so worth of wine was bought onshore from various retailers through Airbnb to be consumed on the balcony of an evening. And a private beach club on Cozumel, that cost $89 per person to visit, wasn’t even considered as the balcony of a balcony cabin was more than adequate for some in the sun relaxation. (This in itself saved $340 of on board expenditure for the week of the inside cabin booked previously.)
“Your balcony is your decompression chamber” – a 20 year cruise director at dinner revealed to me the secret of balcony cabins. As he put it, passengers who book a balcony cabin report 60% fewer complaints than those who don’t and rate their cruise 1.4 points higher on the line’s own satisfaction surveys.
However, the best location to avoid this excess motion is a midship balcony cabin. These cabins are numbered in the following pattern to help indicate their location on the ship: (even numbers on forward facing balconies) and (odd numbers on aft facing balconies). Therefore, the best cabins to book would be those numbered with even numbers 06-24, which are all located in the midship section of the ship and offer the least amount of motion when compared to the other locations on the ship. I can speak first hand to the amount of negative impact that an aft balcony cabin can have on a passengers experience.
When Suites Actually Make Financial Sense
My junior suite (Category J3, deck 11) cost $412 per night – the price of a decent hotel in Manhattan according to 2024 average rates of $357. For a cruise, it felt absurd. Until I did the math on perks.
The 384 square feet of my junior suite contained a separated living area, walk-in closet and above all a huge balcony. But what really made up for the high price of $412 per night (the price of a decent hotel in Manhattan) were the plenty of perks that normally would cost a fortune on a regular cruise. The value of all the perks equals $203 per night (I calculated on the basis of my research on 2024 average rates of a hotel in New York City). I therefore only pay a net premium of $6 per night (or $412 – $406 = $6 per night) for the Suite.
My calculations showed that the perks included with the junior suites, such as the suite concierge, a living area, specialty dining for free, a premium drinks package, prepaid gratuities and priority for tendering and boarding, added up to a value of $203 per day. Since my net cost of the suite over a balcony would be only $6 per night (i.e., after subtracting the value of the perks provided by the suite from the price of the suite less the price of the comparable balcony cabin), I had found an arbitrage situation – a situation in which one can buy low and sell high, i.e., make a profit – on a cruise line.
As before, I used my own research and experiences in 2024 and 2026 to check these against fact. If you’re a person who never drinks, doesn’t like to eat in speciality restaurants, doesn’t mind waiting for a tender and doesn’t use a concierge then a suite will cost you far more than a suite of similar size on a lower deck of the same ship. If, however, you are a person who works from a cabin and therefore values space then a suite will give you more space than any other cabin on the ship. I have seen two families in suites on recent cruises and on both occasions they spent the entire day at the pool, using none of the suite’s facilities. It was as if they had hired a 384 square foot storage room.
For longer itineraries (10+ nights) where time is a factor, such as for transatlantic crossings, the value of a suite’s included perks can really add up and make such a booking a great value. For a 7 night sailing such as my recent Carnival At Sea 7 night Bahamas cruise, a suite would be too expensive for my blood.
My Booking Strategy for Every Future Cruise
Booking into a balcony is 90% of how I book my cruises now. The 3-nighter to the Bahamas is going to be an inside cabin, but anything longer than that deserves a balcony (as I discussed above).
For me and my way of traveling I need space to work and this space has to be very quiet. For my style of traveling a balcony will return much more value than for example a 3-day ATV-tour on an island for $200 (which lasts 3 hours) or a city-tour on shore for $100 (which lasts 1 hour). Instead I want to have 7 days of peace and quiet on the ship with morning coffee on my own balcony (for approximately $357).
For someone who’s to spend time on a cruise working, a balcony is much more value to that passenger than the amount spent for the balcony could be spent on excursions. That’s how I look at it anyway and for that reason I’m happy to spend the money for a balcony on longer cruises.
Book midship when possible (rooms ending in 12-20 are gold). Avoid deck 9 if your ship has a pool directly above – the chair-dragging sounds at 6 AM will destroy you. Use Lonely Planet’s cruise cabin reviews to identify problem rooms before booking.
Think about it. If you are paying $1,500 for a cruise and then another $200 to go from an inside cabin to a balcony, that is 13% more for your cruise. But then again, that 13% could translate into 100% more enjoyment for your trip.
The cruise lines have mastered pricing psychology in their layout of cabin categories, often making inside cabins look like a great deal and suites the epitome of luxury on board. They’re hiding the best value in the middle – and most of us cruise travelers have never even considered the balcony cabins in the center of the ship.
Sources and References
Schools: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration Environmental Psychology in Cruise Ship Design: Impact of Natural Light on Guest Satisfaction (2023). Skift Research, “Cruise Cabin Category Trends in Categories & Booking 2019-2024”, (2024). STR Global Hotel Market Report. U.S. Metropolitan Hotel Pricing Analysis. 2024. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), “State of the Cruise Industry Report” (2024).
Reviewed by Tara Singh who confirmed that this advice was accurate to how she traveled on the above routes.
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